My son is just a bit older than Miles and likewise has a KD0P-- call. He's at a "24 hour fitness" type place almost daily and he likes to read: Yesterday we received from Amazon, Fundamentals of Thermodynamics.

Miles, I stand corrected and I apologize. I should have said "Teens I know, do not want to work".

Lets be real here, how many adults do you know actually want to go to work and enjoy it?? I've seen plenty of adults grip and moan about how much they hate going to work because they don't enjoy it, many of which within my own family. All the more motivation for me to take a hobby I enjoy and turn it into a career. I don't want to be the guy stuck at an office job hating his work life. Sounds lame, depressing, and not enjoyable.

As you mentioned teens do not want to work for $8 an hour. They feel they are entitled to top pay for little work.... This is why we have vast numbers of illegal Mexicans doing the $8 an hour jobs that teens in your generation will not take...

Sorry that your generation has not impressed me..

Though it may be true that teens don't want to work for 8 smacks an hour, the connection between that and illegal immigrants taking up jobs in the US doesn't float. Most illegals don't even get paid $8 an hour, let alone minimum wage since they are "undocumented". The economy and job market in Mexico sucks worse than it does here which forces Mexican workers to jump ship and head for the US. The lure of the "American Dream" is also a pull for immigrants both legal and illegal from all countries. Immigrants are taking up the low wage and intensive labor blue collar jobs because the vast majority of all Americans work a white collar job and the American blue collar workforce is on the decline due to higher living expenses. White collar jobs pay more, have better hours and benefits, and is more attractive to the worker trying to support a family. Also, many of these "$8 an hour" jobs are being taken up by former blue collar workers that were laid off due to cutbacks or outsourcing at manufacturing plants. I live in Fenton MO where Chrysler-Dodge had their main production plant that employed upwards to 2,500 people in my area. When Chrysler went under, they shut down the plant and laid off every single one of those workers. Trying to find a job as a teen with no real background experience versus 2,500 other adults trying to find a job to support their families was not an easy task. I took what I could get and was lucky to get anything at all. So an influx of illegal Mexican workers is not a fault of my generation not wanting to work an $8 an hour job. There are far bigger issues in play than that. By the way, I wrote a 6 page research paper on this for my Current Issues and Politics final. That was essentially the abridged version.

And no sir, I am sorry that my generation has left you unimpressed. I hope you meet more teens as motivated as I am to succeed in my endeavors. I assure you I am not the only one.

When economic conditions provide bountiful pickings for everyone, people become very particular in job selection.But when times turn bad, the situation changes very rapidly.For example when North Sea oil was discovered on Europe's doorstep, the resulting party and good times rolled on till about 5 years ago.The money which was raised from oil sales, and the cheap energy, turned Europe into a 24 hour socialist paradise.

But, when the oil started running out, and Britain and other countries lost the oil revenue, and had to pay for it, the party was over.Of course, like a lottery winner, the Europeans splashed out on politically correct, socialist welfare policies which could never last.

The result is what we see now, where the EU is a walking zombie - dead but they don't realise it yet.In good times, everyone is tolerant, but when times turn tough, like now, the scapegoating begins.

The U.S. which had been the Saudi Arabia of oil production for 100 years (90 percent of oil used in WW1 and WW2 came from the U.S.),had its own peak oil moment in 1971.After that date, the U.S. went from being the worlds biggest oil exporter to the the worlds largest oil importer.

I am sure we will eventually get to a stable situation, since we have the technology available now to overcome many problems.But technology is not energy, so there will need to be a hard debate about Nuclear energy - the ONLY way we currently have of producing enough energy at reasonable cost to keep modern society humming.

In the future, the only modern prosperous countries will be those who have enough Nuclear reactors to supply their populations with energy. All the rest will be minor boutique countries living on solar/wind/water energy and turning off the lights after 7PM.

The Norwegians are doing nicely from their oil revenues, despite a high degree of social spending. But then, they were wise enough to stay out of the EU, which absorbs a lot of money for bureaucracy, fraud and supporting weak economies. It doesn't help in the UK that Tony Blair gave away a lot of the rebate the UK was getting. From memory, it costs every UK family around $1500 a year for the EU. It's worse in many ways for the Germans, Dutch and French because of the Euro, and even the Finns are beginning to revolt.

It is very true that socialism is fine until you run out of other people's money to spend....

I may not want to work a job that pays $7.89 an hour in customer service where everyone treats you like crap, but I do,...

Miles,Most of my working career I worked as an electronics technician, mostly repairing two way commercial radio. Somewhere near the middle of my career, looking for a bit of change, I took a job as a product support technician for a major USA (YES! Really) two way radio manufacturer. My "customers" were primarily dealers and technicians rather than end users and one thing most of them had in common when they called me was that "they were NOT happy campers"! They had already spent an inordinate amount of time "trying to make the damn thing work" or work out a coverage or interference problem, or the like, and beside being frustrated at their lack of success, there was the humbling aspect of having to go to someone else for an answer. So, most of the time when I picked up the phone, the person on the other end was MAD, even before I said "hello". And, that became the most rewarding aspect of my new job. All the thoughts of "dazzling the customer" with my knowledge and advice disappeared and each call became a challenge to me to have that person hang up "happy". Talk about "instant gratification"! That job had gobs of it! The high that I would get when those customers asked to speak to ME instead of "product support" is hard to describe. So, what's my point? A job is what YOU make it; not what your duties are. I made "customer support" fun and challenging and it "rubbed off" on my customers. Think about it; bet it would work for you too. Good Luck,Tom WB6DGN

I may not want to work a job that pays $7.89 an hour in customer service where everyone treats you like crap, but I do,...

A job is what YOU make it; not what your duties are. I made "customer support" fun and challenging and it "rubbed off" on my customers. Think about it; bet it would work for you too. Good Luck,Tom WB6DGN

I may not want to work a job that pays $7.89 an hour in customer service where everyone treats you like crap, but I do,...

A job is what YOU make it; not what your duties are. I made "customer support" fun and challenging and it "rubbed off" on my customers. Think about it; bet it would work for you too. Good Luck,Tom WB6DGN

Wise words my friend.

73 - Rob

Wise words indeed. Thanks Tom for the advice. I do try my best to give every customer the same level of highly professional service and have been recognized in the past for it. I work the front desk at the local Rec-plex and it is a fun job but there are some days where people throw me under the bus for something the director in the back office told me I had to do or not do. So really the people that "treat me like crap" are every 1 out of 50 customers. All the same thanks for the advice!

I may not want to work a job that pays $7.89 an hour in customer service where everyone treats you like crap, but I do,...

A job is what YOU make it; not what your duties are. I made "customer support" fun and challenging and it "rubbed off" on my customers. Think about it; bet it would work for you too. Good Luck,Tom WB6DGN

Wise words my friend.

73 - Rob

Wise words indeed. Thanks Tom for the advice. I do try my best to give every customer the same level of highly professional service and have been recognized in the past for it. I work the front desk at the local Rec-plex and it is a fun job but there are some days where people throw me under the bus for something the director in the back office told me I had to do or not do. So really the people that "treat me like crap" are every 1 out of 50 customers. All the same thanks for the advice!

73Miles D.

I recently got a gig in a textiles reseller that goes direct to the public, Joe Schmo ordering off the website - although I'm not in CS, I give those guys and gals a lot of credit; I prefer dealing with the vendors and the backroom stuff nobody cares about as long as they get their products :-D

We grouchy geezers are getting no FICA handouts from this generation, most who still live with their parents.

That is because the government is using the money towards our multi-trillion dollar debt.....And yes, most of my generation does still live with their parents because they don't have the money to move out on their own.

FWIW I paid FICA deductions the maximum amount every year I worked. I also paid Medicare deductions every year since it started.

So far I have only got a fraction of my $$ back. We grouchy geezers are getting no FICA handouts from this generation, most who still live with their parents.

We geezers only want OUR money back.

Stan K9IUQ

You'll get your money back if you live long enough!

Anyway, same here, paid and paying every year. The people who retired during the early part of the programs got a great deal. It's been getting worse ever since. It's obvious that the system is unsustainable. SS and Medicare are about 35% of the budget and growing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GAO_Slide.png). Big changes will have to be made. You're probably ok since they don't like to change things for current recipients, although nothing's certain when politicians get involved. Our young friend may also come out alright if the system is adjusted to make inputs and outputs more reasonable. I'm in the middle and I think I'm screwed. Future benefits will be cut and I won't get it back. It's just a crazy idea to think that people can quit working and be supported for another 20 or 30 years, while paying increasing amounts to keep them healthy enough to receive their SS.

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